He glared at the green grass type in front of him. "That's not a Cyndaquil."
The grass type, who was smiling previously, was taken aback. "Huh?"
"You're not a Cyndaquil. Why aren't you a Cyndaquil?" Between this and Kari, Kevin felt like exploding any second.
The grass type was incredulous. "I'm sorry if my species offends you, but if I'm here that obviously means I was picked!"
"Cyn-da-quil," Kevin emphasized. He facepalmed and headed over to one of the lobby's couches. "I need to sit down."
He had barely settled down into the leather cushion when the Pokémon followed him. He tried to give the kid the evil eye, but to no avail.
"What's wrong with me, anyway?" The grass type pouted.
"Grass type sucks," muttered Kevin.
"Oh, that's nice," chimed in Kari sarcastically. Kevin growled.
"With another grass type, not only are we half-weak to ice, but flying, too. We don't need this little girl when we've already got you, Kari," He tried to be calm, lest he set the entire Pokémon Center on fire.
The grass type fumed. "I'm not a girl! My name is Chikoro!"
Kevin glared. "I don't care. You're still useless."
"Hey, Chump, stop being an ass. It was a simple mistake. We'll just call the professor again and get things sorted out, all right?" Kari said, her voice surprisingly soft. He nodded reluctantly.
Chikoro, however, shook his head. "No way! If I go back, I'll never get picked!" The look of despair on his face was somehow heart wrenching, even though Kevin was still thoroughly annoyed with the little leaf-head.
Kari frowned. "What do you mean? With a face like yours, you'll win over a kid in no time!" Kevin found it weird that she could encourage the brat like that, even when Kari herself hated being stuck in a lab.
"No! You don't get it! Everyone who wants to pick me wants to use me for dumb girly contests and stuff! I want to battle!" He stomped his single-toed foot for emphasis. "You guys look strong, so you're battlers, right?"
Kevin found himself growling again. "Yes. We battle. And honestly, kid? You look like a contest type. We're sending you back." He narrowed his eyes.
"What do you mean, I look like a contest type? My dad won sixteen badges—"
"Are you your dad? And you look like a contest type because you do. No doubt you know a bunch of flowery moves that a crowd would find dazzling. You'd do well in contests, not all-out battling." Kevin rose from his seat and glared down at the kid. If Chikoro was really a boy, then he couldn't be very old. Heck, his voice was higher than Kyle's, and that didn't happen very often.
"Oh yeah?" Chikoro yelled, gritting his teeth. "Prove it, then!"
Rolling his eyes, Kevin crossed his arms. "Fine. Synthesis, Poison Powder, Petal Dance, and Solar Beam."
Chikoro frowned, throwing back his head so that the leaf that adorned it flopped over to the other side of his face. "And what does that list have to do with anything?"
"Well," Kevin said, forming a grin, "those moves all have something in common. Do you know what it is?"
"I learn them all," said Chikoro, though he didn't look too sure.
"Yeah, that's true… But they also sparkle," Kevin flicked his tail. "Sparkles! That's, like, the number one thing you need to be successful at contests! Even moves that don't regularly sparkle are altered in a way so they do! And that is proof enough that grass types in general are contest material! Now, if you were a species like Kari, and actually had some power behind all the flashy stuff, then maybe I'd reconsider. But you're not, so no. You're going back to Johto."
The small grass type was silent, but his glare held steady. Kevin wished the kid would accept his fate and go home already, but the brat was determined. It was a minute or two before someone finally broke the silence.
"That was a little harsh, don't you think?" Kari's said flatly, her face a complete match.
He frowned. "No. Come on… Kari," he said. His plea was ignored.
"You're talking to a child, Slick. At least try to be nice about it," A lecture on etiquette from Kari was the last thing he needed. Why couldn't they just send the dumb kid back?
"Huh? Slick?" Chikoro repeated, his eyes suddenly widening. "Wait a minute, that means you're that guy!"
Kevin raised an eyebrow. "…That guy?"
"Yeah! The guy who nobody knows anything about! They say he just showed up out of nowhere winning gym badges and stuff, but he's also somehow related to the Shade." Chikoro grinned. "And he's really good, too, even though he isn't fully evolved. You're really him?"
Blinking in confusion, Kevin nodded. "Uh, yeah?"
"Whoa! So it's all true? You're like, the Shade's son or whatever?" Chikoro was utterly gleeful. Kevin was not.
"No! Anyone who heard that interview could tell the reporter was just grasping at straws!" Kevin lowered his voice. "If you must know, he's my uncle."
Chikoro beamed. "Wow, that's so cool! On your mom's side or your dad's side? He barely looks anything like you, so—"
"Chikoro, please, you shouldn't pester him like that. We… We don't really talk about th-the Shade." Uh oh. Why was Kari getting all emotional again? Did the little brat say something…?
"Oh… Well, okay! Then why do you have blue eyes? 'Cause apparently those aren't natural or something." Oy vey. The kid just didn't know how to take a hint.
Kari softened her expression. "We'll tell you all that stuff later, okay? Right now, I need to have a talk with, er, Slick." It felt very weird to have Kari call him that, though Kevin had to admit, it wasn't as awkward as dear.
The two stood outside the Sunyshore Pokémon Center, onlookers to the sea in the distance. The ocean. It reminded Kevin of the Petalburg coastline, a beach he'd seldom visited but always secretly liked, even with all the water. He really wanted to be back in Hoenn right now, savouring the heat and abundance of food, unlike Sinnoh's dreadful climate. Oh well. He was almost there.
Kari stood next to him, a look of worry clouding her face. He knew what she was going to say, but he really didn't want to hear what she was going to tell him. At least, not now. Kevin sighed deeply.
"Kari?" he asked. The Torterra looked up. "Um… Before you say anything, can I say something first?"
The turtle considered this for a moment, and then nodded. "All right."
He was thankful that he did have something to talk to her about, otherwise he'd be screwed. "Um, back up in Snowpoint… I didn't tell you, because you were mad at me, but, uh, I saw my dad."
Kari was quite surprised. "Really? What was your father doing up there?"
"Oh, he wasn't there in person," Kevin clarified, frowning a little. His mouth had begun to taste sour. "He was on a television interview. He was talking about some sort of invention he made. One that let Pokémon speak the human language."
"Yes," Kari nodded. "I remember when it first came out. It was quite the phenomenon, and it spread very quickly. It changed the entire world."
Kevin frowned. "You didn't have one, though, did you? That's why you sound like your throat's made of sandpaper." After a quick thought, he added, "No offense."
"You're correct." Kevin expected her to say more, but she remained silent.
"Um… In that interview, my dad was human," he said. She nodded again.
"You told me about a machine of some sort, right? One that made Pokémon into humans? He must have used that. Why? Does that upset you, Kevin?" Kari looked up, her eyes drilling a hole through his head. How her stare could be so piercing, he'd never know.
He shrugged, looking away from her. "Well, I don't know. It's just— It doesn't make sense. He says he's doing it all for the Shade, but they're enemies! My uncle and my dad never got along. Uncle Mono's even gone so far as to call us demons! I just don't get it, Kari. This whole thing with the Shade contradicts everything I've ever known."
"Kevin, just think about it for a second. It's really easy, and you've got all the pieces. Try and think it over, right here, right now." Kari stared at the ground once more.
Frustrated, Kevin obeyed and began to mull over everything again in his mind.
The Shade was a mysterious person. Nobody knew much about him, other than that he was morally ambiguous and stuff. Kevin had already figured his identity through the process of elimination, since Uncle Mono was the only living, male Monferno that was related to him. From what he knew of Uncle Mono, he was an awful person convinced that anyone who didn't conform to the normality of the Mount Chimney clan was a demon. Therefore, he went to Sinnoh for some reason…?
Right. He had gotten caught, and was put into a Pokémon lab with Kari. That was where Uncle Mono got the idea for the Shades. For some reason Kevin couldn't fathom, Kari fell in love with him, and that was when he left. He must have learned human speech sometime then, too. Then, he made his way to the Battle Frontier, founded his group, and…
What did the Shades even do? It had something to do with Pokémon rights, but… Even after all this time, Kevin was still unsure. He frowned. Kari had to be wrong. He didn't have all the pieces to the puzzle.
"What do the Shades do, Kari?" he asked, not bothering to face her. He hoped she'd give him a straight answer.
"They're a group of Pokémon who wish to improve the way the world works by giving both Pokémon and humans equal rights. They also do odd jobs on the side to raise money, but that tends to be ignored," Kari replied quietly. Pretty straight.
He sighed. That didn't add up, though. Uncle Mono thought that humans were unintelligent home invaders, nothing more. He wouldn't want to be considered equal to them, he'd want to be superior. But that was the goal of a Naturalist, and apparently they and the Shades were bitter enemies.
So something in his deduction was wrong. "Why did the Shade come here, Kari?"
"To find you," she replied.
"But I wasn't here until recently," Kevin said. Kari shook her head.
"He hitched a ride on the wrong boat. Then he was stuck in the lab with me for three years. By then, he gave up and decided to do something else with his life," she narrowed her eyes. "Have you figured it out yet?"
Kevin glared at his feet. "No! Let me think!"
Glaring, the Torterra stomped her foot. "For god's sake! The Shade is—"
"You done talking yet?" asked a loud voice. Kevin groaned. Surely enough, he heard the sound of four, tiny hooves stepping closer. (If they could even be called hooves, he wasn't sure.) Chikoro wandered up to them with a smile on his face. "I mean, you said you'd tell me everything, right?"
"Later," Kevin said through his teeth. He was glad he wasn't as clueless as this kid when he was younger. At least, he didn't think he was ever this annoying.
"Oh, please." Chikoro laughed, extending a vine from one of the thorns on his neck and waving it around. Kevin guessed he was trying to use it as a hand. "Chikoro the Chikorita can't be put off so easily! I'm resilient! You promised, so I wanna know!"
"Chikoro, do you even know what resilient means?" Kari muttered, sighing.
He nodded confidently. "It means I don't give up! So?" He grinned. "Why does Slickky have blue eyes?"
"Slickky?" Kevin asked, turning to face the kid. "Have you been talking to Lana?"
He smiled. "Yeah, she kept calling you that! Uh, it's okay if I call you that too, right?"
Kari slowly turned around as well. "It doesn't matter what you call him, Chikoro. Either way, we're not ready to talk to you yet, all right? We're in the middle of a very important conversation and—"
"No, Kari, it's all right. I need more time to think, anyway," Kevin said. "To answer your question, Chikoro, um… It's because I'm not fully Monferno, that's all. You know, since the clans are pretty tight, uh, it's rare for them not to be pure bred, so, yeah." He figured it was an okay explanation. It was half of the truth, anyway, and he doubted anything less would shut the little brat up.
Chikoro blinked. "Oh, so is that why your uncle hates you? 'Cause you're not pure bred? That's dumb." He frowned.
"Yeah, well, that's the way he is," Kevin muttered.
There was silence for approximately half a second before it was broken again. "Lana told me you're battling in the League!" Chikoro half-shouted.
Kevin nodded curtly. "That's right."
"Does that mean I'm battling with you guys? Aw, sweet!" Chikoro grinned childishly and started laughing. "This'll be great!"
Kari spoke up this time. "Chikoro? Er, I'm sorry to tell you this, but Slickky here doesn't think he can train you quickly enough in time, so I'm afraid—"
"What?! Oh, come on! I'm plenty strong, you know!" He flipped his leaf to the other side of his face again, an action Kevin assumed was a habit of his. "Just because I'm a starter doesn't mean I haven't trained myself in the lab."
Kevin groaned. "Gah! So what, are you going to brag about your dad again? It doesn't matter if you've done personal training or not. The fact of the matter is that you're still a basic stage, frilly contest type with only two weeks left until the league. Unless you convince me you're really special, I don't see this working out, kid!"
Chikoro's large eyes narrowed. "Is that a challenge I hear?"
"Damn right it's a challenge," Kevin growled. The Chikorita nodded curtly and started walking to the empty yard a few feet away that belonged to the Pokémon Center. When he got to the middle of the field, he stopped and shouted to Kevin.
"Fine! Let's have a battle right here, right now! I'll show you I'm not the type to give up – or compete in girly contests!"
Kevin grunted and stretched out his arms. "Fine. Humour me."
After all, he was hardly the type to give up, either.
